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because he appears to be losing his marbles. Fans don’t want more fake cautions. They want real racing. Something that is severely lacking due in part to the generic race vehicles and their poor performance and the over-abundance of 1.5 mile cookie cutter tracks on the schedule. Stock looking cars that perform and handle well and exciting race tracks would pull more folks back to the grandstands or in front of the seat. Providing racing and not marketing is made the priority.

Along with this, I’d say the taxpayers of Kentucky got snookered by both Bruton and Faux King Brian. Rude track staff, parking problems, and problems getting onto track property still remain a major problem even after the big song and dance last year that if the roads and parking was improved that everything would be just fine. The line from “Field of Dreams” doesn’t hold true any longer and hasn‘t for a while. Just because you build it doesn’t mean that folks will come.

More Substances Causing False Positives

According to a study done by UNC, Commonly used baby soaps and shampoos, including products from Johnson & Johnson, Aveeno and CVS, can trigger a positive result on newborns' marijuana screening tests, according to a recent study. A minute amount of the cleansing products in urine sample — just 0.1 milliliters or less — was found to cause a positive result.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, began studying the issue after an unusually high number of newborns in their nursery began testing positive for marijuana exposure. Newborn screening for marijuana at hospitals, particularly among babies of women who are considered at high risk of drug use, is not uncommon: at U.N.C. Chapel Hill, 10% to 40% of newborns are tested.

Positive results can precipitate an investigation by child welfare authorities. "We really did this to help protect families from being falsely accused," study co-author Dr. Carl Seashore, a pediatrician in the U.N.C. Chapel Hill newborn nursery.

Other products, such as Johnson’s Head-to-Toe Baby Wash, CVS Baby Wash, Baby Magic and even standard hospital gel hand soap, also indicated the presence of marijuana metabolites when tested, but not at sufficient levels to qualify as a positive result according to the hospital lab's standards.

The problem is almost certainly not limited to these products, however. Researchers also tested ingredients used widely in soaps and shampoos, including polyquaternium-11 and cocamidopropyl betaine, which both elicited positive marijuana test results. So far, there is no explanation as to why the chemicals interfere with the test's function, but importantly, they aren't intoxicating; they don't cause symptoms of marijuana exposure in children. The researchers think minute amounts of the substances were simply washing off the babies' skin into their urine samples and confounding the screens.

While more sophisticated and expensive testing can easily distinguish between true and false positive results, most hospitals don't use such tests because of the time and costs involved. And positive tests found at the hospital aren't typically sent to outside labs for confirmation, which makes false positive results — and possible investigations afterward — all the more troubling.

Source - news.yahoo.com

So you ask, what does this have to do with NA$CAR? Johnson, Gordon, & several other drivers have young children and more than likely use these shampoos and soaps in cleaning their kids. There may be some folks working on a team or in a shop who may use some of these products themselves. And even though most folks don’t think about, you do absorb some of these soaps and shampoos through your skin. And since NA$CAR doesn’t exactly release how they collect the urine specimens, the drivers & crewmembers could use some of the soaps to clean their hands. Especially since a lot of folks tend to use antibacterial soaps nowadays to keep from getting illnesses like MERSA. All it takes is some flakes of dead skin containing the soap or shampoo to fall into the sample and voila, you have a false positive. But according to Mr/Dr Black, the head of Aegis Labs, there’s no such thing as a false positive, even though his lab has been successfully sued by a Nashville fireman over a false positive test result.

Certain medical conditions, diabetes and kidney ailments, can give false positives. Poppy seeds, the kind you get on a roll or a bagel can give a false positive for opiates. Even quinine which is used in tonic water (think gin & tonic), will give a false positive for opiates.

A lot of over the counter (OTC) products can cause false positives. 4-Way Nasal Spray gives a false positive for amphetamines & morphine. Ibuprofen gives a false positive for marijuana. Vitamin B-2 gives a false positive for THC. Cold remedies with dextromethorphan give a positive for opiates. Dristan Cough Formula gives a false positive for opiates. Excedrin IB gives a false positive for marijuana. Alka-Seltzer Plus gives a false positive for amphetamines & morphine. Just about any medication on the pain relief aisle in a drug store will give a false positive for an illegal drug. Most sinus, allergy, & cold relief medicines give false positives for some type of illegal drug. Pseudoephederine (Claritin-D®/Sudafed®) give false positives for amphetamines and ecstasy. So with more and more products being found to cause false positives, you have to wonder just how reliable the current drug testing really is.

Here’s a story from Tiger Tom about himself and racing great Larry Frank:

One day Larry and me were sitting on the back of the car trailer both wiped out, tired & hungry and had found one orange left in cooler. Larry took out his pocket knife & cut that orange in sections I've never seen cut again. I'll guarantee you by the time Larry got that cut up and we ate it are stomachs were as full as if we had sat down had a two separate 14 ounce steaks no joke. I don't know if it's the way Larry cut it that filled our stomachs or the fact of how generous he was in sharing that orange with me.

The Rest of the Story

The 5 lb spider monkey beating on its chest about ethanol and fuel injection that is NA$CAR managed to leave a little something out. By going to ethanol and the obsolete 1980’s throttle body injection system, the cars have lost about 100 horsepower. That’s why you don’t see some really great performances on the short tracks and road courses which require lots of horsepower and torque. And now you know the rest of the story.

Latest JGR/Kenseth Scenario

The latest scenario for Kenseth going to JGR goes something like this. Kenseth takes over the #20 car because let’s face it, Logano isn’t exactly a good fit with Home Depot because of his age. Logano goes to the #18 car because he does fit with M&M’s and he hasn’t exactly PO’ed his sponsors. Hamlin stays where he is. Shrubbery goes to a 4th car with Monster as the sponsor. How reliable is this? About as reliable as any of the other scenarios out there.

Who’s Running Dodges Next Season?

Rumors still persist about JGR running Dodges next season along with RPM and Andretti. The problem comes when it gets down to engines. Would Penske continue to make Dodge engines for JGR, RPM, and/or Andretti to use? Or would JGR become the engine builder for Dodge? Also, to go along with this, if JGR was the engine builder, would they be able to field a 4th team because of the expenses related to becoming the Dodge engine builder? Just something to ponder over.

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Folks have asked where I’ve been. I’ve been taking care of family and health issues since before Christmas. Family and health take precedence over racing and always will. When I have written, there hasn’t been much to write about. In 49 years as a race fan I have never seen a season as boring and uneventful as 2012. It gets rather boring writing time and again about how boring the racing is and how God awful the TV coverage is.

Bruton Wants More Phony Cautions

Apparently Bruton needs to be evaluated by either a shrink or a geriatrics specialist